Rozelle, Steeg would've done Super Bowl XLV right

/ AP

A mound of ice is seen outside Cowboys Stadium during preperations for NFL football Super Bowl XLV Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2011, in Arlington, Texas. Snow and ice blanked the area earlier in the day. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

A mound of ice is seen outside Cowboys Stadium during preperations for NFL football Super Bowl XLV Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2011, in Arlington, Texas. Snow and ice blanked the area earlier in the day. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) (/ AP)

If Pete Rozelle still stood defiantly on the dreadnaught NFL’s bridge, the Dallas/North Texas/Whatever Mess never would have happened. It wouldn’t have had a chance. The Super Bowl wouldn’t have been allowed there in the first place.

Pete, bless his media-loving soul, would have put down his wing tip and that would have been it.

And if Jim Steeg still were running the Super Bowl, as he did with terrible efficiency for 26 years with very little incident — he couldn’t have foreseen the Janet Jackson wardrobe snafu — the temporary seat bungle in Cowboys Stadium on game day that displaced hundreds of fans wouldn’t have happened either.

It wouldn’t have had a chance to happen. When Steeg was in charge of NFL special events, every base was covered — except for Jackson’s bosom.

So the NFL, Cowboys boss Jerry Jones — whose quest for a record Super Bowl crowd failed miserably — and everyone else involved wouldn’t be getting sued by the seatless.

The problem with the NFL, and it’s something Commissioner Roger Goodell, who’s smart and a man of vision, has to realize, is that incredible success doesn’t mean you can take things for granted.

Rozelle, a Southern California native, believed Super Bowls should be played in warm-weather sites. He knew it was much more than the game itself. Fans who arrived in Dallas found a paralyzed city. The towns make their money not from the actual event, but from people coming in and spending for days.

The 1979 Cotton Bowl was played in Dallas the day after a severe ice storm hit the city, as it did early in Super Bowl week. That game was famous for Notre Dame’s Joe Montana, suffering from hypothermia with a 96-degree temperature, drinking chicken soup at halftime and leading the Irish comeback against Houston.

At that time, no one other than Rozelle was more powerful a League presence than Cowboys President Tex Schramm. Time and again Schramm tried to use his muscle to get a Super Bowl in Dallas. But he didn’t have enough strength to get it past the greatest commissioner of any sport anytime, anywhere.

Funny. After an ice storm hit Atlanta before the 2000 Super Bowl, that city — certainly everything Dallas is — basically was rejected from hosting others. But Atlanta didn’t have Jones building a billion-dollar palace. The League’s policy guaranteeing a Super Bowl to teams that get a new stadium is asinine.

New York’s getting one, and the stadium in the New Jersey Meadowlands has no roof. New York is a great place. Love New York. It shouldn’t be hosting a Super Bowl any more than Tahiti a Winter Olympics.

No one could have foreseen the ice storm in Dallas any more than they could have predicted the one that hit Atlanta. Thing is, they do hit those places. Call it bad luck, but it’s possible, and that’s enough.

The good people of North Texas worked hard to put on a show. It’s a shame what happened, but they never should have been putting one on. These southern cities are not equipped for that kind of weather. Stetson hats do not clear icy roads and airport runways. I’d wager there are more quiche and sushi restaurants in Texas than snow plows.

And there’s no question the NFL underestimated the brilliance of Steeg, whose Super Bowls were run like fine-tuned Porsches. Steeg didn’t like surprises, so every rock that could be turned over — Jackson’s couldn’t be — was turned over.

It wasn’t until game day that the fire marshal determined the 400 temporary seats in Cowboys Stadium were unsafe. This is not the first time temporary seats have been used at Super Bowls. San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium never could have hosted three of them without the temps.

But, with Steeg in charge, all that had to be cleared for safety a full two weeks before the game, not the 12th hour. Really, it isn’t as though Jones and North Texans were advised they were getting a Super Bowl in December.

According to reports, Arlington (the actual site of Cowboys Stadium) officials knew there could be problems with the seats a week before the game, that there were numerous delays and missed deadlines.

I may not know much, but I know, for sure, that if Steeg had been in charge, there would not have been numerous delays and missed deadlines. To make matters far worse, seven workers were injured, one critically, when ice fell 200 feet from the Cowboys Stadium roof during the week.

But the NFL did promise all ice would be removed from the roof by game time. I guess the figuring was there wouldn’t be another ice storm by then — although it did rain and blow outside the stadium during the game.

It’s easy to forget the Navy spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a military jet flyover during Christina Aguilera’s totally botched, disgraceful national anthem. The roof was closed. No one inside the stadium could see it live.

The NFL has such a good thing going. The last two Super Bowls have been the most watched TV events in history. Its game has reached unrivaled popularity and yet it struggles to reach a collective bargaining agreement with the players.